side drum

This is the most prominent sounding drum in the drum line. It's also referred to as the snare drum, so named because of the snare mechanisms on both the top and bottom drumheads. The top drumhead is tensioned much higher than on a kit snare. This results in a very high pitched and crisp snare sound which compliments the notes played on the bagpipe chanter. The notes played by a snare drummer in a pipe band are very quick and precise. The high tension drum head is necessary to distinguish the many semiquavers and demisemiquavers (16th and 32nd notes) you'll be playing. Try to play a pipe band drum score on a kit snare and the notes will all run together.

When you take snare lessons, you will learn proper stick grip which might differ from what a kit drummer or DCI drummer might typically use. You will focus on gaining speed and control from heightened use of your fingers in conjunction with wrist and arm motion. You will start out by learning many rudiments like mummy daddys, paradiddles, flams, flam fives, drags, ruffs and more. As you become more comfortable with these rudiments, we will turn them into drum scores.​Wax on. Wax off.

You will learn how to read drum scores which, in a pipe band, might look slightly different from other percussion scores you may have seen. We'll start out by learning massed bands scores, scores that are the Latin of pipe band drum scores. Back in the day, Latin was the common language spoken by many people across Europe. If an Italian met a Spaniard, they might speak different languages, but they could hold a conversation through a common language, Latin. Massed bands are scores that all drummers in the Eastern US will know by heart so when they play with other bands, they can hold a conversation via massed bands scores.

Once you are comfortable with massed bands, we will progress to more challenging (and more interesting) scores and tunes. There is a whole world of strathspeys, reels, jigs, and hornpipes to be played. Street marches are only the beginning!

As you advance, we can get into even more fun stuff like drum fanfares, back sticking, and stick juggling. All the while, you will learn how all these tunes should be played as a member of a pipe band. There are plenty of commands, calls, and cadences to know. Oh, the places you'll go!

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